UTE: Oran Park race notes

Lamborghini driver Paul Stokell surged past John Bowe to the lead in the
Donut King Australian Nations Cup Championship after clean-sweeping the
fifth round at Oran Park circuit, near Sydney, today.
Stokell dominated all three races in his ...

Lamborghini driver Paul Stokell surged past John Bowe to the lead in the
Donut King Australian Nations Cup Championship after clean-sweeping the
fifth round at Oran Park circuit, near Sydney, today.

Stokell dominated all three races in his Lamborghini Diablo GTR after
also taking the pole position in qualifying yesterday.

Bowe, driving a Ferrari 360GT, finished second in the round and lost the
points lead he had held since the start of the eight-round season.

Heading for round six at Victoria's Phillip Island next month,
Stokell has 348 points to Bowe's 345 in the Meguiar's Drivers
Championship.

Holden's leading driver Nathan Pretty is on a distant 249 points in
his 7.0 litre Monaro, with Peter Brock fourth outright on 166 points in
the sister car.

Stokell's Team Lamborghini Australia attributed his unbeatable
speed to the choice of extra-soft compound tyres, a new Holinger
sequential-change gearbox and suspension development by former V8
Supercar engineer James McKay.

"We had a great day today and of course I'm really happy to
be leading the championship. More importantly, while I've led in
past years this time we've taken the lead at the right end of the
season," Stokell said.

"But we'll have a big job at Phillip Island. Although
it's a high-speed track I'm not at all certain we can beat
Bowe."

Today, Stokell won as he liked and for good measure lowered his lap
record from last year by a massive 2.45 seconds, to 1 minute 8.62
seconds, on his fourth lap of the day.

Bowe also performed impressively, considering his 3.6 litre Ferrari was
surrounded in third place on the grid by two 6.0 litre Lamborghinis, two
7.0 litre Monaros and two 8.0 litre Chrysler Vipers.

He took two second places and a third.

His main rival was Nathan Pretty, who pressured the Ferrari throughout
the day. Although a spin after the first corner put him back to fifth at
the finish of race two, Pretty wore down Bowe in the 24-lap final to take
a deserving second place.

In the Group Two competition, James Koundouris from Canberra won all
three races in a Porsche GT3, consolidating his lead in the pointscore
and overtaking Sam Newman (Lamborghini) for sixth in the outright
standings.

The Nations Cup was the highlight of the three-day PROCAR Champ Series
meeting, which was attended by more than 10,000 people.

In the Australian GT Performance Championship, Subaru Impreza Wayne
Boatwright won both races in round five, doubling up with ProTecnica
teammate Justin Hemmes for a 1-2 result in race two.

Despite picking up 60 points, Boatwright remains second in the
drivers' standings with a total of 245 points to Mitsubishi Lancer
driver Mark King's 271. King collected only 11 points today for
fifth place in race one.

Hunter Valley driver Gary MacDonald (Holden) won the round in the
Poolrite V8 BRutes Series, which now is shaping as a tight battle to the
finish between at least three drivers.

Defending champion Warren Luff (Ford Falcon) finished second today but
remains in the series lead with a total of 230 points, ahead of James
Brock (Holden) on 191.5. MacDonald is just two points further behind.

David Russell, driving a factory-entered Proton Satria, took outright and
class honours in the Australian Production Car Championship, presented by
the Cumberland Newspaper Group.

Russell scored a win and a fourth place.

Round six of the PROCAR Champ Series will be at Phillip Island on 8-10
August.